Amir Khan held onto his WBA jr welterweight title by unanimous decision against Marcos Maidana tonight at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas but it wasn’t the way he planned it.

Khan was hurt badly in the tenth but somehow managed to hold on despite being out on his feet. Had Maidana of won some of the early rounds he may have had a case for a victory but Khan escaped his clutches.

Early on Khan was totally dominate and he put Maidana down in the first round with a vicious combination to the body which buckled Maidana and it looked as though Khan may be on his way to an early stoppage. However Maidana managed to carry on and towards the later stages of the fight Khan stopped moving as much and Maidana had chances with Khan’s back against the ropes and other times on the inside he was able to land uppercuts and cupping shots round the head of Khan.

The rough house tactics rattled Khan and got him out of his game plan but even when he boxed as he should nothing seemed to deter Maidana from coming forward and throwing all he could at the champion.

I think Maidana was very unlucky not to become the champ tonight he caught Amir flush with a big right hand that shook him to his core and almost had him out of there to be honest I’m surprised Khan was able to continue because he looked all but gone even sometime after he had recovered from the intial onslaught.

Khan for the most part boxed well and did a job on Maidana however the vulnerable moments showed themselves once again the chin came into to question and it failed the test fortunately for Khan he lost the battle of the chins but won the war. There should be a rematch but knowing Golden Boy there probably won’t be.

Victor Ortiz came away with a majority draw in his fight with Lamont Peterson in the co-featured bout of the evening.

Ortiz dropped Peterson twice early on but failed to follow up and later became careless in his attacks allowing Peterson to counter on a number of occasions. In the final round Ortiz was rocked by a right hook it just came a little bit too late for Peterson to capitalize.

It looked as though Ortiz would be way too much for him but the longer the fight went the more it shifted in Peterson’s favor my only problem with him was he wasn’t active enough in certain rounds and choose to play the counter puncher abit too much waiting for Ortiz to make mistakes may have cost him the fight.

So after tonights action the picture at 140 lbs becomes abit clearer. Khan though talented and with a great trainer guiding him is still far from the finished article and it seems he is a long way away from taking on the likes of the pound for pound best in the sport like Mayweather or Pacquiao.

Maidana will be a tough fight for anyone in this weight class and Peterson proved he is still a tricky fighter to contend with. Golden Boy may have to evaluate their next moves for both Khan and Ortiz as tonight showed neither is really ready for the big time just yet. Ortiz looked vulnerable again in spots but his attributes carried him through abit like Khan. When they come up against fighters as naturally gifted as them (Alexander) or ones that are willing to be steady in all the areas you need to be (Bradley) they may come unstuck.

Who’s the best at 140?

I think we’ll know after the 29th January 2011.

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